EDITORIAL

Justice DeLayed?

Texas Democratic legislators showed uncommon backbone in mid-May
when they skedaddled to Oklahoma rather than submit to a Republican
congressional redistricting plan. The "Killer D's" not only stopped
an unfair bill, and gained respect for standing up for principles for
once; they also exposed how far some GOP officials will go in using
government offices and police for their political ends.

It all started because US House Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer"
DeLay of Houston wanted to pad the Republican majority in Congress,
so he ordered new Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick to ram a
custom-drawn redistricting bill through the statehouse to replace the
map a federal court ordered two years ago.

DeLay's map was designed to eliminate several Democratic
congressmen from a Texas delegation in which the Dems now have a
17-15 majority. The bill was pushed through a state House committee
without public hearings outside Austin, and despite complaints that
the new districts would divide communities with no other goal than to
replace veteran congressional D's with R's. Austin would be split
among four congressional districts, none of which could elect an
Austinite, much less outspoken liberal Rep. Lloyd Doggett.

Craddick obliged DeLay's wishes and most statehouse observers
figured the bill would shoot through the House and the real fight
would be in the Senate, where rules and custom require two thirds of
senators to bring a bill up for debate.

But the Texas Constitution also requires two-thirds of House
members to be present to do business. Texas Democrats are a
notoriously fractious bunch, which made it unlikely that they would
ever get their act together to decamp en masse to break a quorum. But
Craddick and DeLay and their "tommymandered" redistricting bill
managed to do what no Democrat could accomplish: unite the House
Democrats. So 51 of the 62 Democratic reps were spirited off to
Ardmore, just across the Red River from Texas, while at least four
others went into hiding on their own. The 150-member House was shut
down four days until the redistricting bill died.

Craddick on May 12 signed an order requiring any Texas "peace
officer" to arrest the missing members. Texas Department of Public
Safety Lt. Will Crais set up a command center in the room adjoining
Craddick's Capitol office.

DeLay said his office contacted Justice officials May 12 "about
the appropriate role of the federal government in finding Texas
legislators who have warrants for their arrest and have crossed state
lines." (Technically there was no warrant because it was not issued
by a court and it was not a criminal matter.)

DeLay also contacted the Federal Aviation Administration in an
effort to track an airplane belonging to Democratic Rep. Pete Laney,
a former House speaker. Crais apparently called the US Department of
Homeland Security's air interdiction service, which normally monitors
suspected smugglers, in an attempt to bring them into the manhunt.
DeLay later said he played no part in the DPS' decision to contact
the air interdiction service.

Craddick's spokesman says Craddick and DeLay spoke May 12 but
Craddick "doesn't remember any details at all about that day."

After the Democrats were found in Oklahoma, beyond the reach of
Texas lawmen, DeLay told reporters that he supported using FBI agents
or US marshals to arrest the runaway Democrats in Oklahoma and drag
them back to Austin because redistricting was a federal matter. He
said he passed messages from Craddick to the Department of
Justice.

Then, on May 14, one day before the Democrats ended their boycott
of the Texas House and with Democrats complaining about the Homeland
Security involvement in the search for the missing lawmakers, the DPS
ordered the destruction of all records relating to the search, in
apparent violation of state law.

On May 15, DeLay told reporters the information he got from the
FAA about Laney's airplane was available to the general public. The
following day he clarified that the FAA flight data was not publicly
available, but the public could gain access to the information via
commercial websites. However, DeLay apparently used his status as
House majority leader to get the information directly from the FAA
and turned that information over to Craddick for possible use in
apprehending Laney.

Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta reportedly is investigating
to see if anything untoward happened when DeLay contacted the FAA.
Homeland Defense Secretary Tom Ridge said his agency was
investigating "potentially criminal" misuse of the federal air
interdiction service by the DPS. Craddick denies knowing anything
about how the DPS came to call the agency. "I don't know who
contacted who," Craddick told reporters.

The Travis County (Austin) district attorney's office and the
state House General Investigating Committee are probing whether the
DPS violated state laws in searching for the Democrats and then
destroying the records. The head of the DPS law enforcement division
testified May 22 before a Travis County grand jury. Then a Capitol
surveillance videotape furnished to the House investigators had a
mysterious five-hour gap during the time in question. DPS later
furnished another tape that is said to be complete, but there is
little in the foregoing narrative to inspire confidence in the
integrity of state or federal authorities.

That, ultimately, is the point. Civil libertarians warned that
the USA PATRIOT Act and the legislation setting up the Homeland
Security Department left the nation vulnerable to political misuse of
the sweeping authority granted to federal officials. Those fears were
grounded in the ambition of people like Tom DeLay and others close to
the Oval Office who are not known for their scruples and are not
afraid to use their power when it suits them.

Texas-Style Tax Relief

University of Texas economist James K. Galbraith, writes in Long
Island, N.Y., Newsday that the new Bush budget will give a taste of
Texas taxation to the rest of the country. The tax bill throws
peanuts at the states, which are forced to raise sales taxes and
property taxes to take care of their fiscal crises at the same time
funds for schools, health care, transportation and the environment
are cut.

As we have said before, the tax cut on corporate dividends will
put the pressure on corporations to increase their dividends instead
of investing in their plants. The capital gains tax cut gives
stockholders an incentive to sell, which will further depress stock
prices. There is no rising tide there, folks, nor should we expect
the 1.4 million additional jobs Bush has promised by next year.

The Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low until the 2004
election. After that, Galbraith predicts, the Fed will raise interest
rates to defend the deflating dollar. "Households will hit the debt
wall. The housing bubble will pop. Household spending will tank. Many
will lose their over-mortgaged homes." Then, faced with the fiscal
crisis brought on by the $2 trillion in tax cuts Bush already has
gotten, the Republicans will profess that it is obliged to make deep
cuts in domestic spending, including the privatization of Social
Security and Medicare.

"And then, the Bush revolution will be complete. Just as Lyndon
Johnson's Great Society sought to complete Franklin Roosevelt's New
Deal, Bush's plan is to finish up Ronald Reagan's first two years.
Reagan wanted to take down Social Security at that time -- but the
Democrats stopped him. ... It appears that Bush in 2005 is determined
to complete the project of 1981."

Texas again is the model, Galbraith said. "As governor, Bush
already did here what he now plans for the country. He cut taxes
irresponsibly, earned his spurs, and then moved on. Now his
Republican successors are out on the battlefield, executing the
wounded. That will be our fate, too, as a nation, if we let this tax
bill lead to election victory for Bush and the Republicans next
year." -- JMC